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Placing Hives

This is our 1st year at beekeeping and we're starting with 2 hives. We're out in the sticks on 32acres, maybe 4 with preferable sun.(North coastrange Oregon) Beyond conveniences we aren't sure of the pluses and minuses for putting the hives side by side or separating them. We're also unsure of the preferences of getting 2 packages of either Italians or Carniolans or 1 of each. Any food for thought would be appreciated. Thanks

Re: Placing Hives

Welcome to Beesource!

Bees forage over thousands of acres, so spacing them out around your property isn't going to make much difference. Put them close to each other for your convenience. I wouldn't worry too much about the specific breed of bees in your package. In my opinion, the reputation of the vendor, and the less travel trauma the bees experience to get to you are more important than the bee type, at least till you get some experience and have a better idea of what you want.

Re: Placing Hives

The carnies tend to be the more docile bee than italians, but that is an average. Try both and see which one you like best. Get some trees cut on your property and slash burn it so you get fireweed. Great honeysource. You will have more life of every kind with some sun hitting the ground.

Re: Placing Hives

Convenience of operation is my guiding light. DRIFTING, as they are drifting into your only other hive at the moment, it should balance it self out. If you have 50 hives they are only going to drift into your own hives, so what does it matter. You get the benefit of the drifting. Don't get caught up with philosophies of beekeeping, most important, enjoy your bees, don't stress, and hopefully get the rewards which could be 1 kg of honey or 200kg.

Re: Placing Hives

I'm not far from you in Newberg Oregon. We're up at 1,500' so I decided to get Carniolans for the one package I bought since I thought I read that the Italians don't do as well in the cold. I'm also planning on building quite a few swarm traps to work with the Warre hives I have so that I can include the top bars in the trap for easy transfer. I'm basically building something that is two Warre boxes side by side long with 16 bars across. I bought some used cedar planks and a bunch of extra top bars. Plus some lemon grass oil and some prayers and I'm set for spring!

Re: Placing Hives

Alchemy:
Don't be afraid to try Italians.
I've lived i n some of the high areas of Columbia County outside Rainier, and never knew what cold was til I came to upstate New York.
If Italians can thrive here in upstate N.Y. (and they can) living in balmy wetsern Oregon temperatures would be no problem.

Did you know that Torino and Milan Italy are farther north than Newberg, and the area around Torino is similar in elevation to you?

Re: Placing Hives

We usually keep ours lined up about twenty feet apart, but when we capture a swarm, we tend to never go back and move it. Hives everywhere, hives together...doesn't seem to make much of a difference here.

When I first started helping out, I thought the hives closer together would agitate each other when doing an extensive amount of work, but oddly, the isolated hives that were under shade were much more aggressive. A part of me is glad that most of those have been lost this winter.